Four
Gators scored multiple goals led by sophomore midfielder Shannon Gilroy (Northport,
N.Y.) who tied her season-high five as No. 2 Florida lacrosse improved to 9-0
with a 14-9 win over No. 13 Dartmouth Saturday afternoon at Scully-Fahey Field.
The Gators also notched their fifth win over a ranked opponent this season and
erased their second-largest deficit of the year in the first half to hold on
for a victory.
The
win also snaps the Big Green’s (4-1, 1-0 Ivy) 16 game regular-season home win streak
that dated back to April 17, 2010. In addition to Gilroy’s five goals, senior
attack Kitty Cullen (Rockville Md.) chipped in four points on two goals
and two assists. Sophomore attack Nora Barry (Marcellus, N.Y.) scored a
season-high three goals and senior attack Ashley Bruns (Ellicot City,
Md.) found the back of the net twice in the win and also recorded an assist.
“As
an overall offense I think we are moving the ball really well right now,” Head
coach Amanda O’Leary said. “We came out a little slow in the first half,
but made some adjustments and were able to come away with a win over a Dartmouth
team that is very good at home.”
Florida
held a 16-4 lead with 4:50 left in the second half, as the Big Green rattled
off three-straight goals to end the game. The Gators opened the second half
with back-to-back goals from Barry and Gilroy making it a seven goal lead. Holding
the Big Green scoreless for 16 minutes spanning the first and second halves,
Dartmouth’s Kelsey Johnson found the back of the net with 21:04 to play in the
game.
But
the Gators found a way to keep a seven or eight goal lead for a majority of the
second half, including Gilroy and Barry goals within a minute and a half of
each other at the 15:09 and 14:23 marks.
Gilroy
also led UF with two caused turnovers and a draw control in the game. Barry
also recorded a career-high four draw controls, helping the Gators record a
15-9 advantage on the afternoon. Cullen led the way with three ground balls,
helping her team to 13 on the day.
“Shannon
has done a fantastic job for us this year so far and she’s one of those scorers
who is really hard to stop and she’s got great size and good shots,” O’Leary
said. “She put herself in a position to put the ball in the back of the net.”
Senior
goalie Mikey Meagher (Liverpool, N.Y.) recorded four saves for her ninth
win of the season as she also picked up two ground balls in the effort
It
was all Dartmouth from the opening draw until about ten minutes into the first
period, as it scored the first two goals of the game building the first
two-point lead on the Gators since season opener against UNC early on in
Saturday’s contest. Dartmouth would get another goal from Lindsey Allard to
make it a 3-1 game.
But
Orange and Blue went on an 8-1 run to close the first half starting with a
Gilroy goal with 25:00 left on the clock off a pass from senior midfielder Brittany
Dashiell (Bel Air, Md.).
“I
thought the offense came out a little flat but once our offense got going and
doing what we needed them to do and they started taking advantage of
opportunities given to them,” O’Leary said.
Nicole
Graziano made it a 3-2 game as Gilroy would tie things up at 3-3 on a free
position goal from the eight meter mark. Senior attack Caroline Chesterman (South
Nyack, N.Y.) would take the first lead of the game off a wrap-around goal with
12:40 to play in the opening half. Chesterman found the back of the net and
recorded two assists to tie a season-high three points in the win.
Cullen
chipped in her second goal of the day with 11:18 to play as Dartmouth’s Liz
Calby would score with eight minutes left, but that would be all for the Big
Green in the half. Florida would close the half on a 4-0 run. In the final
six minutes, Barry, Bruns and Gilroy all found the back of the net, sending the
Gators into the locker room with a 9-4 lead.
